Letters to the Editor

Seventh-grade students in Mattawan wrote letters expressing their concerns about the environment as part of a class project. The following are some of their letters.

Give recycling a try to save trees, use less plastic

I'm a seventh-grader from Mattawan Middle School. In class one day I dozed off thinking about all the problems we have worldwide.

Pollution and global warming are the two widest known environmental issues. But they are not the only problems.

Deforestation is the killing off trees and forests all around the world. It forces the animals that survive the deforestation to hunt and live elsewhere. Killing trees is also a factor in pollution and global warming. Trees soak in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Trees can help if they aren't cut down. With deforestation happening everywhere, only the worst can be expected.

Hotels, apartments, motels, etc., being built every day only adds to the problem. Homes are going up in every available spot and killing animals in the process. So many homes are for sale but newer homes keep being built.

If we recycle, the world would be a better place for everyone. Paper companies cut down trees to make paper products. Even though we will always need paper, the craze for killing trees needs to slow or stop.

You can help. Do the little things. Don't throw away that pop can, recycle it. Get 10 cents for every can you recycle. Don't be so wasteful. That TV dinner you had last week -- the one you only ate half of and threw the plastic away -- instead of throwing away the plastic, recycle it. If you don't eat all the food, dump it into the trash and recycle the plastic. It's not that hard. And with less garbage, fewer landfills will need to be built.

Try to recycle even if it's just for this week.

Hannah Dill
Lawton

Dumping of hazardous wastes is problem for all

I live in Mattawan, where hundreds of barrels of toxic waste were recently found. We live a few miles away, but given the terrain and flow of water, it is possible that our drinking water could eventually be affected.

Many homes, like ours, draw our drinking water from a well in the ground. I don't think it is right for people to house or dump waste and other materials, because there is no safe way to do so. Eventually these materials make their way into the soil and into our water supply. People who live near this site now have to drink bottled water because it is dangerous to drink tap water. It makes me angry that those responsible for polluting the water are not willing to take responsibility for the damage they have caused.

To solve and reduce this problem I think we should issue an immediate cleanup of the soil and water in our area and go to greater lengths to make sure other sites like this don't exist. We need to ban any future pouring and or dumping of waste into the water or soil which drains into the water table, so that eventually it will be clean again and my family and I can actually drink the tap water at our home without having to worry.

People in this community need to care because their water could be affected, too. There is a water tower near this location that provides drinking water to the local community, so this is not just a problem for those living next to the site, it is a problem for all of us.

Triston Peters
Mattawan

Turn lights off, carpool, plant a tree -- all help

Looking outside the window of my seventh-grade science classroom in December, I realized something isn't right. There wasn't any snow.

Why is this? Global warming is in effect. What is global warming? Global warming is simply the increase in temperature all over the world.

The cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Trees give off oxygen and take in carbon dioxide. Without any trees, there isn't anything to absorb the carbon dioxide. Which means the heat from carbon dioxide is causing global warming.

With all of this happening, there are still ways to help. You could switch your light bulbs to CFL light bulbs, turn lights off when you don't need them on. Carpool with you friends. Plant a tree.

The huge question is, what will it be like in the future? That is for you to decide.